Several display methods are employed so that when a portable information device that has a small display, such as the so-called smart phone, displays information concerning many items stored in a server or the like, a user can find and browse desired information among the many items of information. For example, a portable information device scrollably displays pieces of information to allow a user to find and browse desired information by a scrolling operation. Alternatively, a portable information device displays a predetermined number of pieces of information at a time and displays, together with the predetermined number of pieces of information currently displayed, a “See more” button or the like for displaying the next predetermined number of pieces of information so that the user can find and browse desired information by touching or depressing the button.
However, when there are numerous pieces of information from currently displayed information to information that the user wants to browse, the user is required to perform the scroll operation or touch or depression of the “See more” button many times before reaching desired information, which requires much time and labor.
For example, in the search engine “Google, Inc., [Google], [online], Internet (URL: https://www.google.co.jp/)”, a search server that receives a search request from a device divides a plurality of items found in a search into a plurality of pages, and arranges and displays the items in order so that a user can specify the page number of each page. When one of the page numbers displayed on the device is specified by the user, the search server displays items corresponding to the specified page numbers on the device.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2013-137626 describes an information processing apparatus that classifies items, such as articles of commerce, which make up a list, on the basis of classification criteria according to attributes such as the prices of the items to determine a plurality of groups of items, and creates a page brake so that all of the items included in the each item group are displayed in the same page.
The search engine “Google, Inc.” allows a user to select a particular page from among a plurality of pages so that the user can quickly find and browse a desired item. However, the user is not allowed to change the number of items to be displayed at the same time and this may impair UX (user experience: details of experience and satisfaction of the user) when the user operates the device.
The information processing apparatus in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2013-137626 can classify a plurality of items into groups by attributes and display the classified items in each page. However, when there are many items that have the same attribute, the number of items to be displayed on one page is increased and the user is required to perform a scroll operation many times before reaching the desired item. On the other hand, when there are few items that have the same attribute, the number of items to be displayed on one page is decreased and the user is required to display many pages in sequence to find the desired item.